Date:	Thursday 18 October 1956
Time:	day
Type:	Fairey Firefly U.8
Owner/operator:	RAE Llanbedr
Registration:	WP352
MSN:	F.8956
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Cardigan Bay, 3.5 miles off Aberporth Beach, Ceredigion, Dyfed -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAE Llanbedr, Gwynedd (EGOD)
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Fairey Firefly U.8 WP354: Ordered 16/2/1951 to contract 6/Acft/63438/CB.9(c) as part of an order for 105 Firefly AS.7s, serials WP351 to WP490. However production was terminated after four aircraft, WP351 to WP354). Built by Fairey Aircraft at Heaton Chapel, Stockport, and first flown from Ringway Airport, Manchester 8/12/1955.

Not delivered immediately: instead placed into short term storage at Ringway Airport, Manchester from 30/12/1955. First delivered to RAE Llanbedr on 4/6/1956

Written off (destroyed) 18/10/1956: Lost at sea when shot down by a Blue Jay Mk.1 (later renamed Fireflash) AAM (Air-to-Air Missile) launched from an Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF.11.over the Aberporth Ranges, Cardigan Bay, 3.5 miles off Aberporth Beach, Ceredigion, Dyfed. At least three Firefly U.8s were destroyed in this way - WM883, WM894, and WP352.

The Firefly seen flying in formation with the camera plane in the video source below is WM883 which was "lost" on 26/3/1957. The source video caption however dates it as 1956, if that is correct then the actual aircraft being shot down in the clip is probably either WM894 or WP352.

Formally Struck Off Charge as Cat.ZZ 26/10/1956.

1. Fleet Air Arm Fixed Wing Aircraft Since 1946 (Ray Sturtivant, Lee Howard & Mick Burrows, Air Britain 2004 p.300)
2. http://www.ukserials.com/losses_drones.htm
3. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_fairey_firefly_U8.html
4. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WP
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardigan_Bay
6. Firefly U.8 WP352 at Ringway Airport, Manchester, 24/2/1956: https://www.airliners.net/photo/UK-Navy/Fairey-Firefly-U8/2041314
7. https://www.reddit.com/r/GunCameraClips/comments/fechi7/fairey_firefly_umk_8_target_drone_shot_down_by_a/
8. https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1327670

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Sep-2020 21:11	Dr. John Smith	Added